Our Day at the Boston Marathon

Hi girls,

As I said before, I would be posting today about our morning at the starting line to the Boston Marathon.  We live in Hopkinton, MA, which I described in an earlier post.  The Boston Marathon is a 26 mile run where runners from all over the world come to Hopkinton to start the race and then run into the city from here.  Our little town is so full of excitment as it fills up with 24,000 runners, and over 250,000 specators.  Mr. Hillcrest knows alot of important people due to his job, and every year, we are lucky enough to see the race start from the VIP booth here in town with special passes.  This always makes it so exciting, because we are lucky enough to sit and mingle with many important people while we are there.  As promised, I am going to post some pictures of our adventure on this picture perfect morning here in Hopkinton.  The weather could not have been more beautiful, and the people were just great.

Here we are at the starting line, and I took a picture of the statue and the American flag, which I am so proud to be an American!!!

Here are our VIP passes to go and see the Boston Marathon.

Here is the starting line and all the people across the street standing and waiting for the event to start!!!

Here is Mr. Hillcrest and Steve-o saying OH NO Mom is at it again with the camera, LOL!!!!!

Here is our Matt-o and I sitting on the bleachers, Matt hurt his ankle yesterday so the poor kiddo had to walk around with crutches which you will see in some other pictures!!!

Here are the MOST important Men in my life!!! I love all 3 of you so much!!!

Here I am with our oldest son Steve-o, he is graduating this year, June 4th, I can't believe it, and it looks like he will be going to the Mass Maritime Academy for engineering.

We can't be more proud of him!!!! I am just having a hard time letting my baby go, he is 6 ft 1" and I feel like I was just holding him in my arms in the hospital!!!!

Former Trooper Dan always sings 3 songs and the one that always brings me to tears is the National Anthem!!!

Dan is there every year and we just love his voice!

After the National Anthem the fighter jets went by and I always get the chills.  I start to tear up because when they go by I am so PROUD to be an American, and that we have our freedom!

Here is Steve-o's friend Kat that was holding the Marathon flame that is at the police station that NEVER burns out!!!!!!!!

Here is Mr. Hillcrest and I at the Marathon, Aren't we CUTE!!!!!!

He is my everything!!!! My life , my soulmate!!!

Here is the official clock!

Here they are ready at the starting line to run 26 miles and I can't run 26 feet,LOL

Here is Senator John Kerry that I dealt with about having the Bullying Bill passed here in Massachusetts and it passed! He is a great person to work with and a friend to Mr. Hillcrest.

Mr. Hillcrest wanted me to get a picture with the bomb squad and his dog, the other bomb squad people were everywhere, in the crowd. Which made me feel very safe being there.

Here is Steve-O and his friend Kat!!!!

Here I am with a Tim Cahill who is running for Governor of Mass.

Here is our good friend, which Mr.Hillcrest and I know well, you guessed it girls Tedy Bruschi.

Here is Mr. Hillcrest and our son Steve-o with Tedy and he always brings up a time when he and the Patriots worked with Mr. Hillcrest on an exersize program and this woman put them through so much that after they where done Teddy and Troy Brown said come here Ken we want to give you a BIG hug and Mr. Hillcrest said "No Way", it was because the were sweating soooo bad!!!LOL!

Tedy's wife is a sweetheart, she was there this year with Tedy and loves him so much.

Here is Tedy with Steve-O's friend Kat who NEVER met Tedy and was so excited she was jumping out of her pants!!

Here I am watching the runners running all the way to Boston!!!!!!

Here they are going all the way to Boston, Good Luck runners

Here are some more!!!!

Well, we had the BEST DAY ever! Sunny and Blue sky and being with my family just enjoying my day with the MOST IMPORTANT people in my LIFE!!!

I love you My husband , Matt-O, and Steve-O!!!

Until till next time my prims, my friends!!!

Blessings, Tricia

Cheesecake Recipe and New Kitchen Window Display

Hi Girls,

Since so many of you were interested in this delicious cheesecake recipe, I decided to post it this evening, along with a picture of my new kitchen window curtains and display, just because......

Tricia's Cheesecake Recipe

40 Nilla Wafers crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)

3 Tbsp. butter or margerine (melted)

4 packages (8 oz.) Philidelphia Cream Cheese (softened,divided)

1 cup sugar ( divided)

1 Tbsp. + 1 Tsp. Vanilla (divided)

1 tub 8 oz. cool whip (thawed)

3 large eggs

Heat oven to 325.F

Mix wafer crumbs and butter together, press onto bottom of 9" baking pie pan.

Beat 3 packages cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla, mix until blended well, add eggs one at a time , mixing on low speed after each, just until blended. Then pour over crust.  Now, you bake 50-55 mins until center is almost set.  Cool completely in pan after removing from oven. 

Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with mixer in a large bowl until blended well.  Wisk in cool whip. Do not over mix, fold.

Spread over cheese cake, refrigerate for 4 hours.

We put our own homemade blueberry topping, but you can add any topping you desire.

Makes 16 servings(unless you really like it)

Prep time: 20 mins

Total time 6 hours, 15 mins.

ENJOY EVERY BITE

Now girls,

I have a surprise for you!!  I decided to change my kitchen curtains and make a new dispaly in one of our kitchen windows.  I feel that it is colonial/prim at the same time.  I love it so much that I keep going into the kitchen just to look at it.  Silly me...  Please give me your honest opinions, and let me know.  I would love for you to comment on your thoughts, just in case I should tweek it.

Here is my New Display Below

Monday morning, we will be at the Boston Marathon, as it starts here in town.  Mr. Hillcrest has VIP passes for the starting line for our whole family, which he gets every year.  Our friend Teddy Bruschi, who was a New England Patriots Linebacker now retired, will be sitting with us in the stands, as well as some other Hollywood bigshots who will be running.  I hope they all show up, I know I will.  I am just so excited, and will be posting the adventure this week with LOTS of pics.

Until next time,

Love to all my Prims,

Blessings,

Tricia

P.S. Try the cheesecake and let me know how you like it.

We Have a Winner

Okay girls, we have a winner.  I am so excited about this, below you will see our youngest son Matthew picked the lucky gal. First, before I let you all know who won, I just wish you all could have won. I wish I could send something to everyone because you all were so sweet and kind hearted with your comments, and today with all of you wishing me a Happy Birthday, it did bring me to tears, happy ones though!

So the winner is:

Here's Matthew looking:

Here he is with that beautiful smile that we love to see and the winner is:

Wendy, The Cozy Yellow House, I am so excited that you won!!!!!

Please send me your information so I can send out your giveway just email me at mailto:triciamcn@verizon.net, I hope you are excited!!!!     I am!!!

Here girls is Easter, yes I still give our 18 yr. old an Easter basket and our 15 yr. old a basket. This is Matthew and you can see that KoKo our baby dog wants some of Matthew's Beef Jerky!! Matt was so happy with his Easter yummies!

Here is our oldest son Steven and he is very happy with his yummies, Matthew also got a t-shirt but he didn't put it on.  Steven put his on right away, his is Rocky and he LOVES it!!!! I also got Mr. Hillcrest an Easter basket but he wouldn't let me post him in his P.J.'s, he loved everything too!

Here is our dinner, we had lamb with mint jelly and mashed potatoes, corn, baby peas and rolls. We also had Sparkling Cider which we have on every Holiday!! This is our new yellow ware dinner set. I just love it!!! Before dinner we had a veggie platter and a fruit platter, with different cheeses and crackers. YUMMO!

Another view of our table setting.

This dessert was YUMMY, it was a new one, Philadelphia vanilla mousse cheesecake. It was delicious, Steven had his girlfriend over and she LOVED it. She is a real sweetheart of a kid!! On top we put our homemade blueberry topping!!!!! Yummy for our tummy!! Doesn't that look DELICIOUS!!!

Okay my prims, I had a ball with the giveaway and I will be doing another one

in a month or so, so keep checking in, I have something really BIG planned for the next giveaway!!

Again, I thank you all for making my blog so speacial, if it wasn't for you girls I wouldn't have such a wonderful blog. Thank you all!

Till next time,

Blessings,

Tricia

It is Giveaway Time Today!!!!!

Hi my friends, loyal followers, it is time for the Giveaway. I am so excited about this. What I am going to do is have all your names out in a bowl and
have our youngest son Matthew pick out a name and then take a picture of
the name that Matthew is holding. I wish I could send you all something, but one lucky gal is going to win the giveaway. I love the fact that I can give a gift to one of you on my Birthday,to me that is a Birthday gift right there!

I never realized that there are so wonderful blog friends out there and I appericate each and everyone, and for all you wonderful comments!!!

Good luck my friends!

Hugs and Blessings,
Tricia
Also I will be posting picutres of a few things also!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi girls, I just wanted to give all my prims a" BIG THANK YOU" for following my blog and joining my blog and entering my giveaway. I really wanted to do this giveaway on my Birthday for one reason. I feel so blessed to have want I do have and I wanted to share this giveaway with one lucky gal that wins it and I hope to put a smile on her face!!!!
So, with that said, I wanted to share with you Mr. Hillcrest's office. When you see the pictures it won't be hard to tell he LOVES ships! I do add my touches here and there but it is his place.
So, this picture shows a few touches I did with the black latern and the books with the candle, and the clock that he just loves. I think every man deserves to have their own room!

Another simple touch that I hung up, which he likes and doesn't mind at all. What a great guy I am married to. He does tell me that it is cozy and relaxing in his office and I am glad he feels that way!

This picture shows on each side I made him the curtains you see, I guess you would call them a manly color, LOL. Then again some touches from me!

These two ships he loves, and the tree you see, I decorate it for all the different holiday's which he doesn't mind, or just doesn't notice. 

This I bought for him many years ago and it is his FAVORITE piece. I told you he LOVES ships! Below that is a picture of his great grandfather and then his DVD'S and down more are two more shelves of them and that is still not his whole collection of DVD'S. 

This piece is very special, I love it. It is an old writing desk, but the glass jar that you see is an old inkwell with a writing feather in it. I am going to paint it a pewter color just haven't gotten around to it!!! This piece is in my 1800 room. 

This picture is in our bedroom, I bought it because I love prints and to see this young boy with the old toys it brings back great memories of when our two sons were growing up! 

This Yellow ware bowl I found today and is for sale on our website which we just redid and updated. It is a very old bowl so I wanted to let my Prims know first. So if your interested go right over to our shop and check it out. As you probably already know, in the upper right hand corner of this blog is a link to the store. It is listed under NEW ITEMS!!! 

I had a great time sharing some things with you girls and I hope you enjoyed it as well, the weather here is just beautiful. It is sunny, and that blue sky is so great to look at. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and enjoy your week. I know I will.

Till next time my friends, God Bless
Blessings,
Tricia

My First Giveaway

Guess what I have hit 100 members on my blog , so I think it is time for a giveaway. What do you prims think??? I say let's go for it!!!!
There are only 2 rules for my giveaway.
1. you have to be a member of my blog and leave me a comment
that you would like to enter.

2. If you have a blog please post my giveaway on the side bar of your blog and I will make sure I enter you in twice, just leave me a comment that you did!!!
So there you go, I am every excited, the drawing is going to be on April15th and why I picked that date is because it is my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!  I thought that would be a GREAT day to make someone else smile too.

The picture below is the awesome giveaway!!!!

The following pictures are not part of the giveaway they are just pictures of my home.

Here is a picture of a candle stick that I have been wanting and I put a battery

operated light in it and I love it!!!

This is my favorite because it is colonial and I have been wanting it for a long time and it finally was marked down and I grabbed that baby, like grabbing candy from a baby,LOL. Do you girls like it. We love it!!!! The eggs are yellow ware eggs from Ragon House and the lamb you see was made by a special, great friend and the boxes you see on top were given to me by someone I care for deeply. I also LOVE my colonial candle stick!!!

This peg board I painted it black and added a few things that I love, this is in our first bathroom!!!

Okay, the top piece you see is black and is in the same first bathroom,

I just love it, I noticed that my taste is changing to more colonial!!!!!

Under is a ledge I think that is what they call it and in the jar is Grandma's homemade soap,

and that is what is says on the label!!!!

I want to say to all my follwers that are so loyal to me. Thank you so much for always being there and making wonderful heart felt comments about what I post. If I didn't have you all, I wouldn't have a blog. I owe it ALL to you MY PRIMS, I love each and everyone of you!!!

I wish you all a Happy Easter!!

He has risen, Amen!!

Till next time my friends, God Bless

Hugs,

Tricia

My Journey Today

Hi my Prims, I haven't posted lately because as most of you know I have opened my own selling blog (the link is on the right). Mr. Hillcrest and I have been wanting to do this for about a year and finally we said let's go for it!!! There is alot of things to be done when you open a selling blog, Mr. Hillcrest and I want to thank some of my close friends that we have, they are from other states from all over the counrty and gave us list after list of their vendors to help us start. That is true friendship ,thank you girls from the bottom of my heart!!!

I woke up this morning and saw the sun shining and then I put a plan together, JUST ME.  Mr. Hillcrest stayed home to work on our selling blog while I went out to do some shopping for our business. I went to two shops in Cumberland, R.I. There are some beautiful homes that I saw on the way from the year 1620 to 1889 and they all had farmland. Just breath taking!

The first shop is a gold mine for any that likes to do "re-do's" ,
from old chairs, crates, old bottles, old signs, alot of milk cans. Irene is a lovely lady in her late 60's  and she will barter with
you. I love just going to talk with her because she has so many
great stories to tell.

Here is Irene's sign . I love it because it's not fancy it is

just prim perfect!!!

LOOK at ALL the STUFF outside!!! OH, I forgot there

are washboards and ladders, you name it she has it!!!!

This is inside her shop, Irene makes alot of her things, like pillows
and she also paints. She is very talented!!!

She has things hanging from the ceiling so if you are tall,

which I am NOT, you better duck. There are baskets and old pans

just about everything you can imagine!

The chair that you see here she made, and made more in different colors!

The next stop was Pine Swamp, I go there and I really enjoy

it. The owner is just so kind and really helps everyone. She had

alot out today, she is always kidding with me and asking

me when are you going to work for me here!

She is already for Easter, which you Prims know is

early April 4th!!

I took this picture because this is where her shop is, in Cumberland, R.I.

If you look close I LOVE the colonial clocks, there are a

few in  this picture.

Last stop is not a colonial/prim shop. It is a place that my parents took me every time we went to the Big Apple (a farm in Wrentham, MA), when I was a child, and I will take pictures of that in the fall, hay rides and picking our own apples and I am 42 years old and they are still open, they are doing something right, so enough of that till fall. Back to this beautiful place. After going to get apples etc, on the way home we always stopped at the Abbey, this is where the nuns live. They work on the farm and I have seen them in the summertime with their long dress and the black head piece they wear everyday in the scorching hot sun. They eat off their land, and bake right there, and they have a gift shop. When you go in to get bread or something, a nun is behind a round disk and you would tell her what you want. She would spin the disk and you put the money there and she then would spin it back with what you ordered and then say "God Bless You Child"  

This is the chapel, now we take our children there after the Big Apple,

we have been doing this since they were babies.  I made sure that the

tradition went on!!

This is were the nuns live, they don't even have air condioning , imagine that!!!

The chapel is so peaceful. When I went in today to say my prayers I opened

the door and I thought I was going to heaven because I heard these beautiful

voices singing and I did feel for a monent in time I was in Heaven, a little closer to Christ.

So, that is what I did today for a few hours, and then came home and helped
Mr. Hillcrest with my selling blog. I hope your girls enjoyed the few places I went to. On the way home I took the back roads and was playing my music in the car and SINGING, thank goodness no one could hear me, LOL.

So until next time my friends I hope you have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by Hillcrest Home Prims. If you have a moment, browse through our store.

Blessings Prims,

Tricia